Enter the Nightbird

Here's a figure that came out of nowhere.  Nightbird isn't someone that I really felt needed a figure, but I guess I was wrong.  I've run across countless fan drawn art on the Internet depicting Nightbird as Megatron's consort, so I guess Takara is giving those fans something that they're always wanted.  Even though I wasn't expecting Nightbird, I'm glad that she was released.

Nightbird is a redeco and retool of Legends Arcee.  I really like the paint job Takara did with her, especially in vehicle mode.  The colors are highly evocative of Psycho, from the GoBots.

I know that it isn't obvious on first blush, but the sleek lines and all of the black and silver just shout "Psycho!" to me. 

At any rate, the details with the paint applications are just fantastic.  The purple seats and yellow windshield are fantastic.  Yes, this is just a redeco of Arcee, but it looks incredible.  I really cannot get enough of those purple seats.

Nightbird comes with Arcee's full complement of weapons, plus two sais.  To be perfectly honest, I could care less about the swords and the guns.  They looked funny with Arcee, and I believe they'd look even worse with Nightbird.  The stock photos showed Nightbird with weapons that are solid gold in color, but the release version features translucent yellow.  I like the translucent yellow, but the solid gold looks better.

The sais fit on Nightbird's wrists when not in use, and it's a nice look.  I prefer keeping one on the wrist, and one in hand.  The only down side is that Nightbird cannot hold a sais upside down, or at least I couldn't get her to.  I really like it when figures can hold sharp instruments upside down in a stabbing motion - it looks better that way. 

I realized that Masterpiece Track's flight stand worked well with Nightbird, so I snapped a few pics, trying to get some nice action poses.  I failed. 

I've seen some tutorials online showing how to take off the backpack kibble, but I think that's unnecessary.  The constant tinkering of toys is a tad annoying. 

Takara really knocked it out of the park with Nightbird.  The purple of the waist and mouthpiece really stand out.  So does the yellow on her waist.  For my last CHUG purchase, I think I could do a lot worse than Nightbird.  I'm actually a bit sad that I'm giving up CHUGs, but I have my priorities.